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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

TweetThere are a vast amount of Twitter accounts out there that cover horse racing. I enjoy following the many viewpoints and banter that fill the Twitterverse on the weekends during the big races. Several of the sport's media giants such as The Thoroughbred Times and the Bloodhorse have a solid presence on Twitter, but there are a number of folks I'd love to see give it a whirl....so I'll break it down to a couple of categories and who I'd like to see start tweeting (or increase their current participation) some horse racing.....

Handicappers (some are media folk too)

1) Steve Crist. He's got a great blog that we all follow. Who wouldn't want to know his thoughts as a mammoth Pick 6 he's playing is unfolding?

2) Richard Eng. His book Horse Racing for Dummies is one of the first I ever read when I was starting out in the sport. A view from his Las Vegas perch would be an interesting follow.

3) Mike Maloney. His name is usually followed with ", whale." Wouldn't you love to hear a tweet from him a minute to post like..."I got a grand on the 2....kinda nervous."

4) Jimmy the Hat. He's all but disappeared after his 15 minutes of fame as the Southern California handicapping maven on Jockeys. Following @JimmyTheHat would be worth the price of twitmission. P.S. Just showing some West Coast love....

Media Folk (other than 1 and 2 above)5) Ernie Munick. He's got the corner on the Facebook market. But think about Stump the E on Twitter? Technically he's got an account, but would love to see him mix it up on there.

6) Steve Byk. Love listening to his At The Races on Sirius (channel 126). He, too, has an account, but like Munick, doesn't tweet so much. He's a pretty sharp handicapper and would be great to interact with and get his take on the big race days. He should take a cue from Jim Rome, who tweets his upcoming guests, etc. to drive traffic to his daily radio show.

7) Hank Goldberg. Who wouldn't love to poke @TheHammer's Piggy Bank?

8) Steve Haskin. One of the respected members of the press. Probably too old fashioned for Twitter.

9) Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss. The ESPN television team are just the horse racing tweeps that would fit right in. Plus they could make fun of @TheHammer during commercial breaks.

Bloggers10) Alan from Left at the Gate - Probably would have 1,000 followers within the first month, of course, 750 would be politically based...but hey we could all learn something from him when it comes to politics. Great sense of humor and he would be right in the thick of some of the Twitter battles that have taken place.

11) Norm from The Knight Sky Racing Blog - He could drive some serious traffic to his weekly handicapping contests and he has a great take on the state of racing. Has a firm grip on his handicapping and we all could learn from him.

12) Sue from Post Parade - Funny as all get out. Give her 140 characters and look out. Would be a nice Texas presence for racing tweeters.

Industry folk (NTRA, trainers, owners, etc)

13) Babe Dutrow. Need I saw more? Can you imagine his tweets during the Big Brown Triple Crown run.

14) Jess Jackson. Who wouldn't love to volley a few tweets with the outspoken millionaire. I imagine he'd have a few things to say about this year's HoTY doings.

13 Comments:

Derke Simon has a radio blog on Twinspires Fridays. He rates horses on energy expended early and how much remaining stamina the horse should have. Helpful when betting, but you have to look at the bloodlines too. Check Facebook for Derke. Good Luck! http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/Youbet.DerekSimon

Geno is a hi-tech dude, at one point I was too, but now I'm more into stuff like learning html code, practicing memory techniques, making notes for HorseWatch, and doing research on the side, or simply getting fresh air in the park. I just don't want to broadcast too much in the parimutuel world, ya know. ;-)

Mainly I just do not want to spread myself too thin at this point. I know I get more pleasure creating a comprehensive blog post rather than sending out two sentences that there's a bridgejumper in the 7th at Charles Town tonight. :D

Thanks to this post, I think I have an idea for the next TBA bloggers poll. And off to work I go....

FastG45....That's one of the reasons why that great idea fell by the wayside:

"The BridgeJumper Tweeter" .

If handicappers wanted to share insights with a few colleagues they would do so, but via cellphone - or text.

I'm sure Tweeting can be put to good use, but it is up to the individual account holders to be creative about it to make the most of Tweeting about horse racing.

If a Tweeter wants to direct the world towards a great blog piece or something about Zenyatta's "first date", that's great for the devotees. But the truth is most horse racing news can wait until we're at home, have kicked off our shoes and are sitting with our laptop in front of the fireplace.

Merrily: Derek has a great blog at TwinSpires and I've listened to a lot of his podcasts.

MH: !!

Norm: C'mon you know I was just baitin' ya! Your points are well taken. I don't think any of us will be moving the odds needle too much with a tweet a minute before post...

Zenyatta John: I have noticed that he picked up the tweets a tad, I think he's still finding his way with the medium.

FastG45: Everyone has an opinion, again I don't think you'll move the needle all that much. Hell, Crist posts his entire P6 A/B/C's so you could use his selections in Late P4s. But your point is noted.

E: You've found your niche and you excel at it. You'd be a good tweep though.

Horserace can also teach the game by offering interactive handicapping lessons. Rather than fret over a steep learning curve, racing needs to teach handicapping skills using all the incredible tools of the internet.

About Me

Gene Kershner - EquiSpace

A bean counter by trade, writing about horse racing is my passion. Entered the blogosphere in April 2008 and in October 2010 became the racing correspondent for The Buffalo News. In 2012, elected into the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association (NTWAB).